Illustration by Chris Philpot.
We’re Just Down the Road
E. Shane Scantlebury lived in New Mexico for 10 years before moving to Benson, Arizona, where he noticed something odd about the signs on eastbound I-10. “The entire state of New Mexico is missing,” he said. “All the signs outside of Tucson indicate mileage to El Paso—no Lordsburg, Deming, or Las Cruces. As if the next state you enter is Texas.” That may be a small step for Arizona sign makers, but it’s a giant leap to New Mexicans.
Cleanup on Aisle 47
Hoping to take advantage of his Albuquerque grocery store’s rewards program, Tom O'Keefe tried to enroll online. But when he got to the part of the form that asked him to pick a state from a drop-down menu, he couldn’t find an alphabetical listing for the nation’s 47th state between New Jersey and New York. “Albertsons has stores all over New Mexico,” O’Keefe said, “but their rewards program is apparently unaware of that.” Even more curious? Albertsons doesn’t have any stores at all in New Jersey or New York.
In a Class of Our Own
Roswell native Traci Coker now lives in Richmond, Kentucky, where she works as a teacher. Needing to add to her teaching credentials, she tried to enroll in a college course there. She already has a master’s degree, so she figured it would be a cinch. But she heard nothing. “Then I received an email that said they were waiting on my ‘foreign university transcripts,’ ” she said. That would be Eastern New Mexico University. “You can rest assured,” Coker said, “if a child has had me for a teacher, they definitely know New Mexico is a state and where it is.”
HAVE A “MISSING” MOMENT?
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